1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a body construction employing a low floor for a motor scooter vehicle.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Conventional motor scooter vehicles have a front cover covering a steering column and a front frame and doubling as a leg shield, a central cover covering a rear frame below a rider's seat and a floor panel extending at a low position between the front and central covers and having a pattern of protrusions and depressions on its upper surface for preventing rider's feet from slipping. The floor panel has heretofore been separate from the front cover or the central cover, and had an increased thickness and/or reinforcing ribs for greater rigidity since the floor panel is flat in configuration. Therefore, the floor panel is relatively heavy as compared with the central panel and other body components. Furthermore, no significant attention has been paid to aesthetic improvement of the sides of the floor panel.
The prior motor scooter vehicles also have rear cover which, together with the central cover, surround an engine disposed below the rider's seat, an exhaust pipe extending from the engine, and a muffler coupled to the exhaust pipe. The rear covers however tend to trap hot air heated by the engine, the exhaust pipe, and the muffler, and such hot air adversely affects operation of the engine intake system. The rear covers are located one on each side of the vehicle body. The rear covers have been attached to the vehicle frame assembly through a complex structure, and it has been undesirably difficult and time consuming to install the rear covers on the vehicle frame assembly because of this complex structure.
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the aforesaid problems of the conventional scooter vehicles.